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Jay McKee
Canadian | birth_date = | birth_place = Kingston, ON, CAN | draft = 14th overall | draft_year = 1995 | draft_team = Buffalo Sabres | career_start = 1996 }} Jay McKee (born September 8, 1977) is an ice hockey defenceman who is currently serving as an assistant coach for the Rochester Americans. He last played for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League, and was previously with the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues. Throughout his career he has been noted among the NHL's best shot-blockers. Playing career McKee was drafted in the first round, 14th overall, of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. McKee played his junior hockey with the Niagara Falls Thunder, where he was an OHL second team all-star in 1996. McKee parlayed his solid junior career into a steady pro career, becoming one of the Sabres top defenceman in his 9 years with the club. McKee played in 582 regular season games with the Sabres, amassing 98 points and 470 penalty minutes. During the 2005–06 NHL season with the Buffalo Sabres he served as an alternate captain under co-captains Danny Briere and Chris Drury. McKee was part of the Sabres' Eastern Conference Championship run in 1999 (before losing to the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals). McKee was injured during the Sabres's two subsequent playoff runs. In 2001, he missed the team's final five games of the playoffs after a vicious collision with the Pittsburgh Penguins's Mario Lemieux during game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and in 2006 McKee missed the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes when he was sidelined with a severe infection in his leg, reportedly caused by a cut or bruise that McKee sustained blocking a shot in an earlier round of the playoffs. All totaled, McKee appeared in 51 playoff games with the Sabres, recording 9 points and 60 penalty minutes. On July 1, 2006, McKee signed with the St. Louis Blues for a four-year, $16 million contract. His first season with the Blues, in 2006–07, was cut short due to various injuries including a knee injury, a broken finger, and two lower body injuries. On June 30, 2009, at the conclusion of the 2008–09 season, McKee became a free agent after he was bought out from the final year of his contract by the Blues. On July 9, 2009, McKee signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After going unsigned through the 2010 off-season, it was announced on October 14, 2010 that McKee would serve as a volunteer assistant coach for Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey, while not ruling out a return to the NHL. On August 31,2011, McKee was hired as an assistant coach of the Rochester Americans hockey team who is affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres Career statistics References External links * Category:Born in 1977 Category:Buffalo Sabres draft picks Category:Buffalo Sabres players Category:Canadian ice hockey players Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks Category:Niagara Falls Thunder alumni Category:Pittsburgh Penguins players Category:Rochester Americans players Category:St. Louis Blues players Category:Sudbury Wolves alumni Category:Retired in 2010 Category:Rochester Americans assistant coaches